Judge Michael Carroll slams court translation
service Applied Language SolutionsA judge sitting in Maidstone has slammed a
private firm's failure to supply a court interpreter just days after official figures
revealed the number of criminal cases that have collapsed since their
appointment.Judge Michael Carroll said the behaviour of
Applied Language Solutions, appointed by former Justice Secretary Kenneth
Clarke in January to provide translators to courts across England, was "so
close to contempt of court".A Slovak interpreter had been booked as far
back as August to help defendant Lubomir Chorvat during his trial on a charge
of wounding with intent.

However, the case failed to start when it
was discovered a Slovak interpreter was not available for the defence team.

Arrangements were hastily made for a Czech
translator to assist after the lunch adjournment.

But when the court reassembled, Judge
Carroll (pictured above) was told their services had also been cancelled.

Addressing the court, the judge did little
to hide his anger.

"We now have a nightmare situation where someone awaiting trial on
an extremely serious matter is not able to be told what is happening in his
case.

"He has not seen his barrister this morning because of no
interpreter and he is being kept in the dark by the inability or unwillingness
of a company which is contracted to supply an interpreter and their failure to
do so without any kind of explanation to the court.

"This is so close to contempt of court that I feel I should take
the matter further."

Before January, courts in England used to rely on local interpreters.

However, ALS was handed the monopoly on translating in the hope it would
save the government £18million a year.

Figures from the National Audit Office revealed at the weekend that in
the first three months of its contract, 182 magistrate court trials, and an
unknown number in crown courts, have collapsed.

A trial is declared "ineffective" if, like Chorvat's, it has
to be abandoned on day one. The cost of yesterday's delay was estimated to have
cost the taxpayer £8,000.

When the possibility of calling upon the
services of an independent interpreter was broached, Judge Carroll remarked:
"I am not sure the court has the power to appoint an outside interpreter
when a huge amount has already been paid to an agency who refuses to honour
their contract."

Despite being assured that a Slovak
translator would be available, the judge added he was prepared to report the
matter to the Lord Chief Justice.

"Something has to be done,"
continued Judge Carroll. "Not just something has to be seen to be done,
but something has to be done."

Chorvat, 55, of Richmond Road, Gillingham,
denies wounding Milan Jankech with intent to cause him grievous bodily harm
between June 17 and 18.

Trials collapse as
interpreter shortage cripples the court… whose reliance on Google Translate is ‘putting
the public safety at risk’Dozens of trials have been
abandoned because of a ‘catastrophic’ shortage of interpreters which has forced
courts to rely on Google Translate, MPs have been told.Ken Clarke’s shambolic
outsourcing of legal translation services is blamed for putting public safety at
risk after suspects were released back on to the streets when interpreters
failed to turn up.The National Audit Office
has found that between January and March this year, 182 trials in magistrates
courts, and an unknown number in crown courts, have collapsed.In one case in Ipswich in
March, the failure of a Lithuanian interpreter to appear meant that Google
Translate, a comparatively crude and time consuming online translation service,
had to be used.A trial is declared ‘ineffective’
if it has to be abandoned on day one. It is then rescheduled at huge cost to
taxpayers, with some defendants having to be freed on bail in the meantime.The total of 182 does not include
other delays caused by the interpreter shortage, such as trials having to be
adjourned day after day. Magistrates, solicitors and translators warn that
inadequate standards of interpretation could lead to miscarriages of justice
and make British courts the ‘laughing stock’ of the world.Courts across England used
to rely on local interpreters but in January this year the former Justice
Secretary controversially handed monopoly on translating to a private firm,
Applied Language Solutions.Magistrates have lodged
more than 5,000 complaints against the firm after it failed to send interpreters
to a fifth of trials, sent people speaking the wrong language, or translators
who are simply incompetent. In one case the defendant’s wife acted as an
interpreter.In another, ALS sent a Romanian
to translate instead of a Roma speaker. The full depth of the scandal emerged
in submissions to a justice select committee inquiry.MPs were told that a murder
trial went ahead with a beautician translating, even though she did not
understand the words ‘friction’ or ‘deterioration’.Standards were allegedly so
lax at the firm that a director of another translation company was able to sign
up his cat Masha as an ALS translator – and the cat was offered jobs.Many police forces also use
ALS and in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, three Hungarians had to be released on bail
as an interpreter could not be found.Mr Clarke’s reforms were
supposed to save £18 million a year, but a minister admitted in the summer that
there will be on savings this year.A spokesman for Capita,
which took over the running of ALS earlier this year, said performance had
improved, with more than 95 per cent of bookings now being filled and
complaints down.

Thursday, 22 November 2012

An Italian man facing an
allegation of indecent exposure said to have been committed at Yeovil has had
the case adjourned for an interpreter to be present.[…] No plea was entered and the case was adjourned at the request of the
defence because the defendant did not speak any English. Until then his
unconditional bail was extended.

Magistrates have been gagged in an attempt to
conceal embarrassing details of problems with court interpreters following
privatisation of translation services in England and Wales.

Exaro can reveal that the government clampdown has
prevented magistrates from supplying crucial data to an inquiry into
translation services for courts, which is being held by MPs on the House of
Commons justice committee.

Court clerks
have also been banned from expressing their opinions on the privatised
services.

The justice committee is holding an inquiry after
repeated reports of problems since Applied Language Solutions (ALS) became the
ministry’s sole contractor for translation services in courts in February.

Peter Beeke, chairman of Peterborough Magistrates
court, told Exaro that he had been “forbidden” from providing data to the
committee.

The senior magistrate said that he had made a
“formal request” to be allowed to provide the committee with monthly reports
that he receives on translation services.

But at a meeting with local chiefs in the HM Courts
& Tribunals Service (HMCTS), an agency of the Ministry of Justice, he was
“formally” told that he could not send copies of the reports to the committee.

He wrote to the committee to explain the position:
“As Bench chairman, I receive a monthly report of ALS failures. HM Courts and
Tribunal Service has specifically forbidden me from passing that data to this
inquiry.”

Magistrates are, however, permitted to give their
opinions on the interpreting services. Beeke wrote: “Bearing in mind that I am
not allowed to quote in precise detail, the numbers [of problems] remain at an
unacceptable level.”

“Magistrates have to put up with this poor service,
as do defendants, prosecutors and defence solicitors, and we are powerless to do
much about it.”

He warned the committee about relying on statistical
reports from Whitehall, saying: “I am told that there is a new logging system
for ALS and other service-provider failures. This will only record the amount
of court time lost due to such failures.

“This will
seriously understate the real cost, but will look good when Whitehall reports
to Parliament. You should regard such reports with the greatest scepticism. It
will not show extra costs for prosecutors, defence lawyers, secure transport
services and custody costs.”

A spokesman for the Ministry of Justice said that
statistics on language services are collated centrally “to ensure impartiality,
objectivity and integrity, among other requirements.”

The ministry had “strong reasons” to change the
system for supplying interpreters, he said. “We remain confident the contract
will make the expected saving of £15 million a year for the Ministry of
Justice.”

In August last year, the ministry gave ALS the
contract to provide all interpreting services for courts in England and Wales.
It was part of a ‘framework agreement’ across the justice sector worth £168
million over four years.

Capita Group, the biggest supplier of outsourcing
services in the UK, bought ALS last December for £7.5 million, with a possible
further £60 million depending on performance over four years. Since October,
ALS has been trading under the name Capita Translation & Interpreting.

But the interpreting services have been dogged by
problems. A poll in March showed that nine out of 10 court interpreters were
refusing to work for ALS, leading to what they see as a fiasco in the supply of
translation services in the UK’s criminal-justice system.

A spokesman for the company said: “Our interpreters
are qualified to the standards required to provide services to the
criminal-justice system,” adding, “Complaints have also fallen dramatically and
we shall continue to push for further improvement.”

Klasiena Slaney, director of the Society of Official
Metropolitan Interpreters, which represents court and police translators, told
Exaro: “It is horrendous what is going on in terms of gagging.”

“Properly trained and qualified interpreters
contribute to safeguarding human rights. There needs to be an increased
recognition of the standing of the profession. Without this, the existing
problems are likely to be perpetuated.”

Geoffrey Buckingham, chairman of another body
representing translators in the criminal-justice system, the Association of
Police and Court Interpreters, added: “The amount of money that is being wasted
in ancillary costs is colossal.”

Friday, 9 November 2012

Alun
Cairns (Vale of
Glamorgan, Conservative)To ask
the Secretary of State for Justice(1)
pursuant to the answer of 22 October 2012, Official Report, column 681W,
on courts: interpreters, whether the figure for complaints includes those
requests which were not completed by Advanced Language Solutions due to an
interpreter not being available to attend the court or other venue at the
required time;(2) what
estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of disruption of court
functions due to unfilled bookings.

Helen
Grant (Maidstone
and The Weald, Conservative)The
published statistics relate to completed requests between 30 January and 31
August 2012, and include requests where ALS was not able to send an interpreter
or where an interpreter did not attend. The complaints figures relate to
completed requests, where a complaint was recorded. Not every instance of a
failure to supply to an interpreter results in a complaint, and this is
reflected in the published statistics.The
estimated cost for all agencies of an ineffective trial in the magistrates
court is around £650 and the Crown court is £1,500 for all agencies. Comparing
the number of ineffective trials in the criminal courts due to the availability
of an interpreter the first quarter of 2011 to the same period in 2012, the
additional costs have been estimated to be approximately £60,000. It is not
possible to quantify costs for the disruption of non-trial hearings (e.g. case
management hearings) due to interpreter availability.